The winds went all night but didn’t cause much damage. Morning was a familiar mix of grey and greyer with light snow falling. Nothing was going flying today... too much of a mid-storm feeling to the world. We ate breakfast and attended lectures for the morning. After lunch, my gang eagerly showed up for a field trip in the Tucker snow bus. There were about 18 of us rambling along a flagged and gps-ed ice road in the big tracked vehicle. The snow storm continued, but we went on instruments to find the “wind scoop” by Mount Charles. We got out and donned stretchy traction aids to help our boots on the hard blue ice. We then walked toward an enormous snow and ice formation, the wind scoop carved out by patient and endless winds around the base of an Antarctic mountain. Simple... except it was also beautiful and primal. It snowed on us as we walked, and the winds kept up, but every now and then, we could see enough to be impressed and awed by the scale and the relentlessness of ice, snow, wind, sun and rock. When we got back to the comfortable dining tent at Union Glacier, it shocked us for a moment that the staff had put up all of the Christmas decorations. We haven’t given up on getting home for the big event, but dinner with friends in this wild setting was still pretty fun. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn